Sanctuary 4x05 'Resistance' review

Forget the phrase “resistance is futile”.

When it comes to Sanctuary (and especially Helen Magnus & Nikola Tesla together), “Resistance” is so darn much fun – as witnessed by tonight’s episode.

* We start off with Biggie “taking one for the team” as a plan to capture an abnormal goes awry (which seems to happen a lot lately) and when they finally get the capture, the new governmental abnormal-catching agency steps in & takes him away. I’m not sure I like the way Helen Magnus seems to have been ‘demoted’ in the power ranks of the world as she & the Sanctuary have decided to go rogue, and not “play well with others”. I would love to see Helen “take it up with the President” as one of the SCIU guys suggested. I do like that Helen is still one step ahead on many things, including having a tracking device on the abnormal. She obviously expected the government guys to show up and included the tracking device so they could track them back to their facilities.

* I really love all of the new establishing shots of the Sanctuary that we’ve seen so far this season. They’re so much better than the standard “from above” shots we constantly saw in the first three seasons. I love the upgrade.

* Back to Biggie again, I love when he gets involved in a storyline. We really haven’t seen much of his backstory, other than when he got shot & saved by Father Jensen and was brought to the Sanctuary. I loved how we see him a bit melancholy over the continued loss of abnormals.

* I loved the scene with Biggie & Helen in the office where he’s telling her that trying to infiltrate the “Area 51” was not a good idea and she could be charged with espionage…again.
B: this isn’t a good idea
H: oh, come on. I’ve infiltrated secret compounds before.
B: Come on, baby. This is Area 51
H: it’s simple recon. Get information so we can plan our strategy.
B: if you’re caught, you could be charged with espionage.
H: *chuckles* that never sticks
B: *growls*
H: look, I appreciate your concern, but what choice do I have? If indeed this…SCIU, or whatever they’re calling themselves, are experimenting on captured abnormals, I can’t allow that to continue.
B: well, at least wait until Will comes back.
H: From Hollow Earth?
B: yeah
H: that could take days. We need to strike before they discover our tracking beacon. … Henry & I can handle it.
B: I’ve heard that before

These types of Helen/Biggie scenes are rare, but so wonderful to watch. Again, I’d love to see more of the Helen/Biggie backstory, as well as scenes like this, where he gets to talk back to her as an equal, and not a subordinate like Will, Henry, Kate, or even Declan do.

* And then there’s Nikola Tesla. I love how there always seems to be some kind of wine reference – and this time it was the wine that was the indicator that we’d be seeing Tesla. I loved the reference back to “Normandy” when Tesla says, “the last time that I cooperated with the US Government, you may recall the assistant they gave me turned out to be a nazi spy? ”

* another great thing about Tesla/Magnus scenes is that these two characters are not afraid to talk frankly to each other. Helen always seems to be giving Nikola a piece of her mind, and it’s usually to berate him about something that he’s done wrong while trying to create his “wonderful” experiments. With those experiments, he always seem to forget about the “human” factor, until Helen has to remind him just why it isn’t such a great idea to begin with.

* another thing with Tesla in this episode, it was fun to hear him speak in “simple” non-Tesla terms, like “POOF” and he even said “I can’t”, which is so unlike him.

*This episode also brought out what seems to be the mother/son undercurrent of the Helen/Henry relationship. Right after Henry gets taken by the inter-dimensional abnormal, we see Helen react in a mother-losing-her-child kind of way. Thankfully, she was able to turn her focus to Nikola and let him know it was his fault. It seemed that his apology was in the information he gave to Henry just before he left.

* The reverse is true as well with Henry telling Tesla “You just betrayed the best friend you ever had”.

* “Hello, Beastie” LOL Beasties should learn one day that you don’t underestimate Helen Magnus, even if she has gone rogue from the mainstream world.

* It’s interesting to note that I didn’t even roll my eyes at the scenes with Will, mainly because Biggie and Galvo were always with him as well. I liked Galvo (probably because he annoyed both Biggie & Will) and was a bit bummed that he was a baddie.

* is it just me, or have they made Helen look a bit older? I’m guessing it’s to keep continuity with her additional 113 years that she’s recently gone through. Amanda certainly doesn’t look any older off camera than before.

* oh, and who doesn’t love Henry’s man-purse? LOL And what’s with Henry getting the “Bloody Hell” line this time? That was cute.

* it was great to see Biggie sitting up on the ledge of the roof, and I loved how he felt he needed to get better instincts. I really wish that had been a scene with Helen instead.



Some great quotes and conversations:


* * *
Tesla: (to Magnus) you seem to have forgotten you’re not on everyone’s speed dial anymore.

* * *
Henry: I’m about to be a father. How am I supposed to teach my kid the back-door hacks to Final Fantasy from a penitentiary?
Helen: They won’t lock us up. We know too much.
Henry: really?
Helen: we’re more likely to be convicted at a military tribunal and then executed in secret.
Henry: well, that’s very comforting. Thank you.

It seems like Helen’s been there/done that.

* * *
Helen: after all I’ve done to help you. All the times I’ve come to your aid. I revamped you, for goodness sake. And this is how you repay me? By aligning with my enemies. By becoming a shill for a paranoid government hell-bent on exploiting abnormals for God knows what depraved purposes.

It’s great to see Helen giving her wrath to Nikola.

* * *
Helen: did you notice anything unusual about Nikola’s behavior?
Henry: other than the knife in your back with his fingerprints on it?
Helen: he’s hiding something. He needs our help & he’s too stubborn to ask.
Henry: wh…I did not get that.
Helen: I’ve known him for over a hundred years. He only acts this way when he’s really rattled. No, something’s going on here, and whatever it is, it’s big.

I love how Helen noticed that very subtle part of Nikola’s personality and Henry had absolutely no clue.

* * *
Helen: out with it
Nikola: I may be partly responsible for the appearance of that creature
Helen: you don’t say.

Ah, yes. Helen loves hearing Nikola admitting his mistakes.

* * *
Helen (to Tesla) You’re our own personal Robin Hood

LOL

* * *
Nikola: If a rat gets loose in my house, I don’t destroy the house, I kill the rat.

Ha. I think I’d eventually find a new house.

* * *
Helen: Luckily, I’ve brought the world’s foremost expert in taking things apart…Henry.
Henry: I’m on it.
Nikola: are you kidding me…him?

It’s cute how, in her own subtle way, Helen is telling Nikola that Henry is better than him.

* * *
Nikola: every time she shows up…

LOL finish the sentence please, Nikola. It should be – “every time she shows up, she ends up being right and having to bail me out of a mess”

* * *
Henry: you’re working for Magnus’ enemies after everything she’s done for you. That’s not cool dude.
Nikola: would you rather I left the position vacant for someone else fill in, I don’t know, General Villanova, perhaps?
Henry: Come on. It’s blood money & you know it.
Nikola: listen, I’m not experimenting on abnormals & nor do I intend to. By the time those dunderheads in Washington find out, I’ll be on my own private island.
Henry: I hope you’re happy there, cuz you’ll be all alone. You just betrayed the best friend you ever had.

Oh, I love Henry sticking up for his mama.

* * *
Nikola: you know what this means?
Helen: it won’t be long before it extends beyond this facility
Nikola: yes, yes. But more importantly, I did it. I invented wireless electricity.

Ha. Oh dude, you are just one of a kind.

* * *
Helen: what’s the status of the rift?
Henry: it’s still growing. At the rate it’s going, it’ll reach Alamagorda by morning. That would be a horrible country song.
Helen: and him?
Henry: him? Oh, he’s working on his Nobel speech. He wants to call his invention Tesla-tricity.

Oh Nikola. If there’s one major deficiency in his character, it’s naming his inventions. Remember the “devamper”?

* * *
Nikola: what I wouldn’t do for a glass of fine red.
Helen: well I’m sure there’s another bottle of ’95 Margaux in your office, just a…short skip across the feeding ground.
Nikola: still sore at me, I see.
Helen: do you blame me?
Nikola: you know, this could have been a banner year for you. In the current climate, a woman with your expertise, not to mention arresting good looks, you would have been in high demand, but you chose to cut yourself off from the world.
Helen: oh, silly me. Missing the chance to play patsy to a government gone mad.
Nikola: please. Get over yourself. You know very well these directives changes with the weather. And besides, there’s more than one way to skin a system. You chose to fight from the outside, I choose to fight from within.
Helen: OH. Oh is that what you’re doing? Right, and the abnormals under your care…are they in on it too? … tell me, what happens when the government realizes that their research into abnormal-based weaponry has fallen behind on your watch? Better yet, what happens when you leave to start your own utility company? Planning on taking the abnormals with you as an advisory board?
Nikola: you’re unpleasant when you use rhetoricals.
Helen: do you think I want to be left out in the cold…fighting world powers at every turn? I had no choice. This was the only way I could continue to without betraying everything that the sanctuary stands for.
Nikola: yeah, how’s that working for ya? … I’m just saying, Helen, there’s a fine line between passion & fanaticism.
Helen: and there’s a fine line between compliance and surrender. Let’s just hope we’re both on the right side of it. … Nikki.

Oh, this is what I love with these two. They can let it all hang out and not hold anything back when having a discussion. They’ve been in each other’s lives for so long that they’re not afraid of losing that friendship if they don’t censor their words.

* * *
Helen: Henry. Oh dear Lord.
Nikola: Helen
Helen: don’t. This is all your doing. You’re selfish and base desire to meddle in things you don’t understand. Still comfortable with the human toll, are we?

Nikola, don’t get in the way of mama bear when she’s just lost a cub.

* * *
Helen: then we’ve no choice.
Nikola: what? You’re not seriously considering…
Helen: when Adam Worth trapped me in that warehouse, he traveled through the rift using a series of pre-determined exit points
Nikola: yes. And emphasis on pre-determined. You’re talking about locking onto a tracking signal through an interdimensional void. If I’m off by even the slightest margin…
Helen: I have faith in you.
Nikola: fine. But you’re not going, I am. The burns & radiation sickness won’t affect me. Vampire.
Helen: Yes. I blame myself for that.
Nikola: however, I am going to need someone on the outside to distract the creature long enough for me to get in, grab Wolfgang, and get out…just in case you thought you were getting off easy.

This is what we call a Helen/Nikola make-up session. It’s Nikola’s way of saying “sorry”. I love it.

* * *
Nikola: that’s six months of my life I’ll never get back.
Helen: well, lucky for you there’s a lot more where that came from.
Nikola: huh?
Helen: vampire. Remember?

Hmmm. So does Helen still blame herself for re-vamping him now? Methinks not.

* * *
Helen: ah Nikola. You are full of surprises.

I love how it ended on that note.
So overall – this was a pretty decent episode.
- I love the Magnus/Tesla angst (and makeup sessions).
- I love that we got to see a bit more of Biggie this time. I’ve missed him.
- The episode was fairly Will-light (which is ALWAYS a good thing, IMO)
- And I still think Helen spent her 113 year exile in Hollow Earth and is on some kind of secret mission to get to the bottom of the abnormal uprising in HE.